Legitimate optimism 12/5

December 5th, 2012

For the first time in a long time, there appears to be legitimate optimism that an NHL labor deal could get done in time to save the season.

If you’re like me, that made you start thinking about how the roster battles that usually play out over the course of September will be compressed into a short time span once an agreement is signed. Let’s take a look at some hot spots. There aren’t as many as you might think.

First, I tried to sketch out a complete depth chart, including guys on AHL contracts. Please let me know in the comments if I’ve forgotten anyone.

LW

C

RW

KUNITZ

CROSBY

DUPUIS

COOKE

MALKIN

NEAL

JEFFREY

SUTTER

KENNEDY

GLASS

VITALE

ADAMS

TANGRADI

DUPUIS

BENNETT

MACINTYRE

SMITH

FERRIERO

GIBBONS

HOLZAPFEL

THOMPSON

FARNHAM

PETERS

KUHNHACKL

UHER

MEGNA

VEILLEUX

ZUREVINSKI

SILL

PAYERL

MANDERSON

CHUPP

LD

RD

G

ORPIK

LETANG

FLEURY

MARTIN

NISKANEN

VOKOUN

DESPRES

ENGELLAND

ZATKOFF

STRAIT

LOVEJOY

THIESSEN

DUMOULIN

BORTUZZO

KILLEEN

MORROW

REESE

SAMUELSSON

GRANT

MORMINA

SNEEP

MCNEILL

– The first thing that pops out is that there could be a battle royal for the second-line LW job with Evgeni Malkin and James Neal. Candidates would include Matt Cooke, Dustin Jeffrey, Eric Tangradi and perhaps Beau Bennett, among others.

– The next hot spot is at the bottom of Pittsburgh’s depth chart on defense. You’ve got six guys on one-way NHL deals — Orpik, Martin, Letang, Niskanen, Engelland and Lovejoy. Then you’ve got two guys who would have to clear waivers under the old CBA — Strait and Bortuzzo. Then you’ve got Despres, who looks very good in the AHL this season and last year, played even better in the NHL than he did in the minors. Add in Dylan Reese, who had played 74 NHL games the last three seasons and has been an invaluable piece of the puzzle so far in Wilkes-Barre, and you’re at 10 guys. Something will have to give there. At least one or two guys will have to go on waivers or be traded.

Other than that, the lineup doesn’t look particularly volatile. A training camp of a week or two should be plenty to hash any issues out, should the optimism continue in these labor talks.

One note from today’s practice: Tom Kuhnhackl is going to be out for “a while,” according to coach John Hynes, with an upper-body injury. It’s not related to any injuries he had in juniors, which is a small silver lining. He played his best game of the year two Sundays ago in Atlantic City, the suffered the injury Saturday night.

One thing to look for in tomorrow’s paper: A look at John Hynes, who with his next victory will become the franchise’s all-time winningest coach.

One thing to look for in Friday’s paper: I think I’m going to unveil a new feature, a weekly reporter’s notebook, that will run on Fridays. It will give me a chance to hit on some different topics and be a little more opinionated than I would in a regular news story. This week, it will feature a look at Trevor Smith getting his Calder Cup championship ring.

One thing to look for in Sunday’s paper: I’m planning to take a look at the development of top-six NHL forwards in the AHL. Why is it so hard to do? Could Bennett and Tangradi fit into the category?

One issue you overlooked is the goalie situation. Thiessen and Zatkoff are both still technically up on the NHL roster, having signed temporary AHL contracts to play during the lockout. So if the season starts up by the end of the month, they will both have to clear waivers to be sent back to Wilkes-Barre (as will Tangradi, MacIntyre, Bortuzzo, and Strait). With the season Zatkoff has had so far, it might be very difficult to send him down without losing him to some other team. I love Thiessen, but at the rate he is going over the past 2 seasons he is pretty safe, but who wouldn’t want to pick up Zatkoff?

Maybe the new CBA will have different rules for waivers on players being sent down to the minors, but so far all I have heard is exemptions from re-entry waivers. And the way Tangradi has been playing, he is pretty much a lock to make the NHL roster, because he would never clear waivers either. Strait and Bortuzzo may be safe, but they are more defensive, and the stats for that are harder to follow, so its hard to say whether or not it would be ok to chance them on waivers. Though if it comes down to them or Despres on the NHL roster, I’d pick them since Despres can stay in the AHL. Big Mac is awesome, and he is the best at what he does, but who is going to try to pick a 4th line tough guy off waivers? I would like to see Bennett given a chance in the NHL, I think he would be great with Crosby, but with only 3 roster spots left and 6 guys that need to clear waivers to return to the AHL, it might be tough…

Ian DeArdo

Plenty of AHL teams in different organizations develop top-2 line talent, but the Pens haven’t drafted forwards particularly well outside of the lottery picks they’ve had, especially since Shero took over. I haven’t looked at the numbers, but I’d suspect true top-2 line forwards spend little time in the AHL, maybe 14-16 months at most. Cheap, talented players are a key to success in the salary cap era.

As for 2nd line, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pens make a move early in the new season given their salary cap space and logjam on D. Maybe a rental player like Sullivan was last year. I doubt either Bennett or Tangradi could play for an extended period on an NHL scoring line right now. I think Tangradi’s future with the organization is probably over as he just can’t skate for Bylsma’s system.

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

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